Prelude ~ The Parting

As heavy rain was washing away the blood in the aftermath of a battle, he stood away not too far from me.

A man on his twenty was looking at me in cold gaze. His blade had long turned dull red, quenched in countless fresh blood of his enemies. His rugged scarf covering his neck would flutter every time the wind past.

I had known him for long time, the corpses he piled was immeasurable. Not even the god of death himself could contend at his mercilessness.

Yet, I could not bear to see him as a heartless man. It was because I know him deeper than anyone in this world. An astute and righteous heart unchanged in the trial of time, a selfless man filled with devotion to fulfill his mission.

‘Haku, you have to stay here.’ Said the man indifferently; his voice was heard clearly despite being muffled by his black mask.

I could feel my heart breaking from his coldness; however, there was no way I would back down. Not after knowing what he was going to do.

‘No!’ I let out my fiercest roar towards him; I wanted to ensure that no one could stop me. Despite that, he was unfazed and was glaring at me coldly, it seems he disliked my determination.

‘Stop being stupid, you’re going to waste your life.’ Warned him as he was walking away from me towards a hazy mountain. ‘You have done enough.’

The moment he was moving away, my tears immediately flowing from the thought of him apart from me. I quickly reached for the back of his shirt and clenched it as hard as I could.

‘Please, do not let me go.’ I pleaded him while looking downcast, it seemed my action stopped his movement. However, he then tugged my hand, easily removing it from my shirt and resumed to his destination.

I could feel the rejection; it brought burning pain to my soul. My tears bursting, I couldn’t hold it any longer and wailed as he ignored my wish, the power that had been hidden inside my body was released into a consuming tsunami of flame.

‘I rather kill you here and have your soul rebirthed, then going there to have your soul extinguished forever!’ Left without a choice, I decisively made my action.

The rains, corpses, weaponry, all were scorched without fail. It was like a punishment from harbinger of heaven. The man once again stopping on his track, he turned his back to the tidal approaching his way.

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Closing his eyes momentarily, ‘How foolish…’ the masked man said as he slashed his arm-length blade towards the air. Despite the seemingly simple attack, the sheer strength had called upon violent wind that fended off the flame from hitting him.

After I saw how the strongest spell I could muster had ended up miserably, I was unable to keep myself standing at the sense of hopelessness. The disparity between him and me once again reminded me the hard truth, that I was not destined to walk beside him.

Even so… I wanted to be with him,

Even so… I wanted a share of his burden,

My wishes and hopelessness clashed into grievance, the strong emotion caused my tears to flow even faster. I tried to cover my face with both of my palms because it was uncontrollable.

‘Am I… That worthless?’ I managed to slip the words amidst of wails, ‘is my life… Useless for you?’ I degraded myself to the point into a miserable state.

In a flash, he was standing in front of me. His body was shrouded with yellow lights and the surrounding outside his feet was a constructed magical array of a handless clock.

It was a time spell, something that went against the world itself.

Bending down, once again, he rubbed my head gently. His cold eyes were directed at me, ‘You’re mistaken.’ He said indifferently, ‘I could not bear to have your soul extinguished, you’re too important… For me’

A jolt of electricity energized me, in astonishment I raised my head and was staring at his face. It was the first that he had worded his affection towards me; I could feel my heart tightening in love at that instant.

‘You’re cruel...cruel’ I responded in sadness, ‘Sacrificing yourself for the world, leaving me alone.’ I grabbed the hem of his shirt and leaned my head against his chest and transferred my pent out feeling. He didn’t reject me and stood there silently, shouldering the heaviness of my emotion.

It lasted for a while, until he grabbed my shoulders and teared the connection. Then he took out something from the pocket of his suit, and pressed it to my palm. I could feel the coldness of the metal; the circular shape and size was familiar to me. It was without a doubt his pocket watch, a treasured memento from his lineage.

With his index finger, he touched my forehead and channeled his power. I could feel it was forcibly supressing my power and sucking my energy, I could barely struggle with him for a second before he broke off all of my defenses.

My eyes were heavy; I resisted myself from fainting due to the sudden exhaustion, to the point of gritting my teeth to keep myself awake. However, I could feel it was overwhelming and took over part of my consciousness in a flash.

‘Keep it safe, Haku.’ Said him in his characteristic icy voice, ‘If we ever meet again, I would definitely ask you to return it.’

Slowly, he laid my body onto the ground and for the last time treaded towards the direction of the highest mountain, this time there would be nobody holding him. His body suddenly vanished into the misty air after few dozen steps.

Left alone, exhausted. My mind was wandering around, playing a memory in the past and perfectly replayed them. It was the first meeting I had with the said man.

Somehow, having remembered a delightful event. I couldn’t help but to hum a tune I learned during that meeting.

As I was recreating the song from the memory, the world gradually shrouded in total darkness.